Travel Reference
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J
January Insurrection See POLISH REBELLION
OF 1863-64 .
in exile and in 1990 by the Russian Orthodox
Church in Moscow.
Joseph of Volotsk (1439-1515)
(Iosif Volokolamsky, Ivan Sanin)
abbot and theologian
Founder of the Volokolamsk Monastery, Joseph
was a prominent religious figure of his time
whose activities influenced monastic life in Rus-
sia as well and the overall development of
church-state relations. Joseph (also known as
Joseph of Volokolamsk) was born Ivan Sanin in
the Russian town of Volokolamsk, about 60 miles
northwest of Moscow, in 1439, although some
sources cite 1440 as his year of birth. At the age
of seven, he began to study with an elder of a
nearby monastery, and at the age of 20 he left
home and joined the Borovsky Monastery. By
the time he was appointed abbot of the
monastery in 1477, Joseph had come to believe
in an ascetic monasticism centered on strict com-
munity life and social work among the local com-
munity. This went against the traditions of a
luxurious monastery that was personally sup-
ported by IVAN III and which was seen as a train-
ing ground for the future religious elites.
In 1479, Joseph left Borovsky Monastery with
a few devoted followers and returned to his
home region of Volokolamsk, where he founded
his own monastery in accordance with his ascetic
beliefs. In the half-century after its founding, the
Volokolamsk Monastery became known for its
rigor, discipline, and practical work in the com-
munity. It received financial support from those
who had benefited from the monks' labor, while
John of Kronstadt, Father (1829-1908)
priest
Born Ivan Ilich Sergeev, John of Kronstadt
became a major religious figure in late imperial
Russia and the object of a popular cult. After his
ordination, he went to Kronstadt, an island near
St. Petersburg, where his sermons attracted large
congregations from all classes of society. Father
John began as an activist priest, ministering to
the poor, building shelters, developing employ-
ment programs, and becoming a forceful advo-
cate of the temperance movement. An opponent
of radical reform, he opposed the Christian anar-
chist teachings of Lev TOLSTOY . Father John
emphasized frequent communion at a time
when the laity seldom received communion
more than four or five times a year. He also
developed a form of public confession, in part a
practical response to the sheer number of people
who came to see him for confession, where the
faithful shouted their sins simultaneously. Kron-
stadt became a place of pilgrimage, a place
where the faithful alternated with hawkers sell-
ing souvenirs, photographs, and trinkets. A pro-
found believer in the power of prayer, he
brought to his services an intense feeling of emo-
tional immediacy, which also shines through in
his spiritual autobiography, My Life in Christ. By
1894, his reputation was such that he was asked
to minister to the dying ALEXANDER III , and in the
process he attracted an international audience.
In 1964 he was canonized by the Russian Church
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